On That Note

As promised, today's On That Note will be a one in light of the experience of Empire of the Sun's performance at Riveria Theater on Thursday, 17 December. I imagine that you've been anxiously awaiting the post, completely indifferent to the fact that Star Wars The Force Awakens was officially released this weekend... I waited on line for hours to insure I would get a spot as close to the action as possible, just for you, The Daily Serge reader.

A fair warning, although unnecessary IMO... thanks Obama

In my opinion, the performance was not solely musical. As I have come to find out both in experiencing the duo live and reading about them after the fact, Empire of the Sun is quite well known for elaborate stage designs, lighting aspects, and choreography of their performances. I could not agree more strongly with the claim, as I found myself temped to tune out (no pun intended) of the music (as if that was possible?) and divert my attention entirely to the light and video portion. The dancers were a notable distraction as well - a good one, yes (and boy, did they dance throughout most of the show...), but not as intriguing as the others mentioned.

The emperor's posse

Although I was slightly disappointed in the actual musical performance (notice the word slightly - I still left the venue that evening satisfied), I was happy to see that the duo's set included a good representation of all of their music: songs from both Walking on a Dream and Ice on the Dune were performed.

A packed house at the Riveria...

As hoped and expressed last week, "Standing on the Shore" was performed. I was surprised to hear it performed second to last, only before "Alive." In my mental free time, I often do things like plan concert set lists and modulations from one song to another. These are not necessarily organized so that only a particular artist's music is used, but often includes songs by various artists. That said, I have always had "Standing on the Shore" as more of an opener than not. This is not influenced at all by the fact that the track opens the Walking on a Dream album. Regardless, the song was done just okay - the guitar melody introduced early in the song and restated later on in the track was done with an effect that I did not care for - an organ sounding guitar effect. If something is not broken, leave it alone!

I have found myself listening to the group's music a lot more since the performance. While this may very well be normal behavior for people to enact after such an experience, I went as far as to buy the remaining tracks off of both of their albums (I know, who buys music anymore, right?) I highly suggest checking out their music, especially any of the tracks listed earlier in my post. While the song of the night goes to "We Are the People," I have grown to appreciate "Ice on the Dune" a lot because of the show. If you do get into their stuff, I recommend seeing them if the opportunity ever presents itself. I have plenty of video footage of the night that I am unable to upload - feel free to contact us if you would like to get in on that...